President Donald Trump will depart the Group of 7 summit being held in the Canadian Rockies a day early “because of what’s going on in the Middle East,” the White House said Monday.

China will continue to support political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iran nuclear issue, firmly safeguard the international nuclear nonproliferation mechanism, and uphold peace and stability in the Middle East.

Speaking to pilgrims at the end of a special Jubilee audience June 14, the pope expressed deep concern over the “seriously deteriorating” situation in the Middle East, warning of the consequences of further escalation. “I want to strongly renew an appeal to responsibility and reason,” he said.

Despite evidence that the conflict between Israel and Iran is escalating, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed optimism on Sunday that peace would come soon and cited the possibility that Russia's Vladimir Putin could help.

Jennings, who has been in Israel during the violence, cited an excerpt from a Times of Israel report on X and strongly endorsed intervention from Trump.

Trump swept into office hoping to be a peacemaker. Five months in, a new conflict is roiling the Middle East, with no end in sight to the war in Ukraine.

The administration has already rolled out a doctrine for the Middle East. It sent Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to hammer out a Gaza ceasefire in January. Then it sent him to deal with Russia on a possible Ukraine deal.

The Russian leader briefed Trump on his recent talks with officials in Iran and Israel, and reiterated Moscow's proposal to seek mutual solutions on the Iranian nuclear issue.

AMANEY A. JAMAL is Co-Founder and Co-Principal Investigator at Arab Barometer, Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University.